11 thoughts on “Been reading through New X-men: Childhood’s End and realized that X-23 doesn’t know how to play Masks.”

I found the “you are not killers” rule in Masks very refreshing on account of all the grim grim dark grim that I otherwise imbibe on a daily basis. Players have had to come up with some creative solutions now and again, and give their characters some very humanizing characterization, because of the enforcement of this rule.

In a fairly long running campaign, we’ve had one killing. Our Protege used a Moment of Truth to take a handgun off of our not!Joker to shoot an unconscious not!Scarecrow, thereby preventing the doomsday machine that would’ve amplified and projected his fear powers across the whole city from unleashing its apocalyptic wave of havoc.

This changed everything. It made him feared by heroes and villains alike. It made his mentor, not!Batman, go on a crusade to see him imprisoned on murder charges and, failing that, turn the entire superhero community of Halcyon City against him. It ruined his life, changed his playbook, and set up a massive character growth arc involving the entire team that has yet to culminate.

This was one death. It was a big deal! I know it’s unrealistic, but treating human life with this kind of value and gravity has been really entertaining, and hella dramatic.

Jim Crocker I don’t want to defend Marvel Comics, of course, however the “young killer teen used as a simple tool” is a cliché that I suppose exists from… Ever. With the (usual) redemption / grow arc, that bring the machine-teen to understand the world, and gain human feelings. Great space for epic, struggling stories, in it.

You guys are so fixated on the “very old” part of that statement. I obviously didn’t meant it to be from sometime like the 30’s or the 60’s, if I did I would have mentioned those decades.

In anycase, it has been relevant to the Masks games I’ve been apart of. I’ve seen players who ignore the “You are not killers” part of the rule book. Those games quickly die of course. And, yes, this run didn’t lean heavily on the teen drama like the creative team before it but Masks can, and often, end up in situations depicted in the run.

I would argue that Masks stakes its territory in a particular corner of the genre and this isn’t it. But in larger geek media, this concept–the killing machine that needs to be reigned in–sees a lot of play. Two that come to mind are Terminator 2 (“They’ll Live”) and the recent Lost in Space TV series. I would totally RP those moments. But probably not in Masks with a PC. (I would totally do it with an NPC the PC has influence over and has to control.)